Friends Reunited Blurb

From a shy, moody, frequently obnoxious, hideously right-wing, young bespectacled geek to a tree-hugging, left-wing, vegan and hopefully a bit less-obnoxious, old bespectacled geek, and this is how: A levels at HHC, degree in English and American Literature at the University of Kent, 2½ years researching and cataloguing the popular literature of the seventeenth century at Cambridge; locked horns with the English Faculty, quit, and finished the PhD at Roehampton in London; Started and ran a small pressure group lobbying for professional welfare support for kids in schools until it became a nationally recognised need, and the bigger groups took over. In August 2005, after 37 years living in Burgess Hill, I moved oop north. All very Mrs. Gaskell.

School Memories: Getting belted round the head with a hockey stick by an over-exuberant Mark Hosken in a game of hockey. Stopping one of Barry Burt's penalties with my left testicle (now in a jam jar on the mantelpiece). French Lessons & German Mistresses: I was crap at languages so of course I ended up doing French and German. To avoid being asked questions in French, I developed the ability to become invisible. This worked so well that my teacher of two years couldn't remember my name in the exam hall. Mrs. Jones taught German. We liked Mrs. Jones in ways we weren't quite old enough to fully appreciate. A long skirt, a thin white blouse, and an acid wit. Mrs. Watson, Mr. Doughty (MF), Mrs. Wells, Mr. Alexander, and Mrs. Rigglesford (DN), were particularly wonderful. Special mention goes to the thunderously inspirational 'Red' Ken Haworth who adopted us for five years of awesome English lessons (and he owned a ZX81). Happy memories of Mr. Roberts' boundless enthusiasm for physics experiments that didn't quite work and of Mr. Phelps' accidental attempt to gas us all by not sticking the fume cupboard hose out the window. Mr. Moore was our laid-back, chilled-out form tutor, who took all of our dalliances from the path of virtue in his stride. At HHC, Sandy Thomas continued the tradition of inspirational English lessons, and the rest is history.

Passions: literature; early books; veganic and wildlife gardening; football.

Now: I find rare books for institutional libraries, mainly editions of 16th, 17th, and 18th century works that are thought to have been entirely lost. I'm also a writer.